Dangerous Concessions: Red Hat, Fedora and the Secure Boot Shocker

DcData AdminPublic

Well it’s been a jubilant few weeks here in the Linux blogosphere, thanks largely to some of the spectacularly sane decisions coming out of the tempestuous case of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) v. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG).

There have been parties in the streets, celebrations in the cafes, and rowdy songs aplenty being sung down at Linux Girl’s favorite Punchy Penguin Saloon.

So exuberant have been the celebrations, in fact, that Linux Girl quickly lost track of time amid all the revelries. Late last week, more than a few Tequila Tux cocktails later, she lifted her head from the bar once again only to find the mood had shifted dramatically.

‘Signed With a Microsoft Key’

“Microsoft will be offering signing services through their sysdev portal,” wrote Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) developer Matthew Garrett in a blog post late last month. “It’s not entirely free (there’s a one-off $99 fee to gain access), but it’s cheaper than any realistic alternative would have been. It ensures compatibility with as wide a range of hardware as possible and it avoids Fedora having any special privileges over other Linux distributions.

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